If you hold a granted Indian patent, or you license one, there is a statutory form due on your desk right now, and it has nothing to do with paying a fee. Form 27, the Statement of Working under Section 146 of the Patents Act, 1970, is India's way of asking every patentee a simple but consequential question: is this invention actually being used?
The 2024 amendment made the process less frequent, but not less serious. Filings now cover a three-year block instead of a single financial year, and the block closing on 30 September 2026 is the one most portfolios are dealing with today.
Who Actually Has to File
Both the patentee and every licensee of record must file Form 27, and they must file it independently. A parent company filing on behalf of a patent does not discharge the obligation of a licensee working the same invention. If your patent has been licensed to a manufacturing partner, a distributor, or a subsidiary, each of those parties needs its own filing.
One filing can cover multiple patents, but only where every patent listed shares the same patentee. Each patent number still gets its own line item and its own worked/not-worked declaration — there's no shortcut around per-patent disclosure.
You Still Have to File Even If the Patent Isn't Being Used
A common misconception is that Form 27 only applies once a product is on shelves. It doesn't. If an invention hasn't been commercialised — because it's still in regulatory approval, awaiting investment, or shelved for strategic reasons — you file anyway and state the reason. Silence is not a filing category the Patent Office recognises.
Filing "not worked, pending regulatory approval" protects your patent record. Filing nothing at all is what creates exposure.
What Happens If the Deadline Passes
There is exactly one formal remedy for a missed Form 27: a Form 4 request for extension, capped at three months. Once that window closes without a filing, the gap becomes part of the public patent record. It doesn't expire the patent automatically, but it does something arguably more dangerous — it hands any interested third party a documented basis to pursue a compulsory licence application or, in more serious cases, a revocation proceeding.
For patentees managing dozens or hundreds of assets across a portfolio, a missed filing on even one patent is rarely just an administrative footnote. It's the kind of gap a competitor's counsel is specifically trained to look for.
2026 Filing Timeline at a Glance
| Milestone | Date / Window |
|---|---|
| Current three-year block ends | 31 March 2026 |
| Statutory filing deadline | 30 September 2026 |
| Form 4 extension window (if needed) | Up to 3 months beyond deadline |
| Recommended filing window with us | Now through August 2026 |
How to File Form 27 Correctly
- Confirm patentee and licensee details — name, address, and nationality must match the Patent Office record exactly.
- List every patent number in scope — grouped only where the patentee is identical across all of them.
- Declare worked or not worked — for each patent individually, with supporting detail where the invention is being commercially used.
- Attach reasons for non-working, if applicable — regulatory delay, market conditions, or ongoing development are all acceptable, provided they're accurate.
- Submit and retain proof of filing — for every patentee and licensee separately.
We can file Form 27 for you before the September deadline
Send us your patent numbers and we'll handle the drafting, licensee coordination, and submission — with bulk pricing for larger portfolios.
See Form 27 Filing Options →A Note for Portfolio Managers
If you're tracking Form 27 alongside annuity renewal dates for the same patents, it's worth handling both in one pass. A patent that's current on its renewal fees but silent on its working statement is still exposed — the two obligations protect different things, and neither substitutes for the other. This is exactly the kind of overlap our Indian patent renewal service is built to track alongside compliance deadlines like this one.
Whether you're managing a single granted patent or a multi-country portfolio, the September 2026 deadline is close enough that it's worth resolving this quarter rather than in the final week of the filing window.